Mapped drives on Laptops disconnecting and not reconnecting 1

[mucous]

Hi,

I've posted this in other discussions, but haven't found a solution yet...

We run Win2k in the office and have 4 laptop users and 10 desktop users. We have a problem with mapped drives either not connecting or disconnecting and not reconnecting. This only happens with the laptops and not the desktops. I would like to avoid using logon scripts if at all possible and have disabled the autodisconnect feature in "net serve" with no luck. The trouble keeps reappearing.

The Laptops are all Latitude C640s with one D600. All plug into port replicators. Initially, I thought it may be the port replicators, howevr the issue is still there when plugging into the built in NICs as well. The laptops have many network adapters, the built in NIC, the replicator NIC, a wireless NIC, and a virtual adapter for VPN connections using our SonicWall VPN/Firewall. Could the problem be with the multiple adapters by chance? I would LOVE to solve this aggravation as I hear from the laptop users every day about this problem. It does not happen when they work remotely using the VPN, but only when they are in the office, connected directly to our network.

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

 

[ceh4702]

This may be a networking problem or a OS problem or a software problem. It does not appear to be a hardware problem.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[mucous]

Thanks.

I think your posts are lovely

 

[Lemon13]

this happends when the nic´s powersaving feature is enabled and the system is not 100% acpi compatible.
solution is 2 disable powersaving for the nic(nic properties, allow the computer to......)

 

[mucous]

Interesting.

Thank you. I'll look into that. I hope it does the trick because I've tried just about everything I can think of.

 

[mucous]

I found the answer to the trouble but it's created other problems. The laptops have multiple NICs installed. Netbios was enabled on all of the adapters. This caused a conflict making mapped drives connect and disconnect while using them in the office. I disabled netbios on all adapters not used in the office and found the drives connect just fine and stay connected, but now those same laptops are having issues when working remotely and attempting to get in via our VPN. Now, the drives are inaccesible over the VPN. Is there a way we can have both adapters working properly without having these types of trouble?

 

[cdogg]

Did you try disabling NetBIOS on the rest of the adapters listed, including the ones for VPN? NetBIOS shouldn't matter over VPN since the protocol is not routable over TCP/IP which is the way the laptops connect. NetBIOS is part of NetBEUI which is strictly for LAN connectivity and not WAN connectivity. Therefore, there's no need for it at all.

I suspect a corrupted network stack. I recommend blowing it out all together and recreating it. During the recreation, don't use NetBEUI for anything.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[mucous]

Wouldn't the VPN use netbios also since it's for the most part extending the lan through the tunnel? I am not doubting your suggestions, but I was told by SonicWall that we needed netbios in order to see the mapped frives over the VPN when we began using it. Truthfully, I would love NOT to use it if we can get normal functionality back without it. Our users are in the office one week out of the month, then working from home the other week. Since starting the VPN, this mapped drives thing has been an issue and now that I understand what's happening with Netbios, it would be a pleasure to do without it if we can still have our mapped drives.
You mention the stack and rebuilding it. That is probably the one thing I haven't done yet and it sounds about right. I've seen it get corrupted in the past, but it never crossed my mind in this instance. I will give that a shot on my laptop and then the others if it helps solve the trouble.

Let me get this straight though...you're saying we don't need netbios (netbeui) installed for mapped drives to appear? I understand what you're saying about it being not routable over a WAN, just thought it was necessary.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[cdogg]

Well, you do bring up some good points. #1, a lot of it depends on the VPN software. For SonicWall, maybe that's the case and you're stuck. If so, go ahead and rebild the stack and make sure NetBIOS is properly "binded" with all VPN-related adapters (SonicWall should be able to help here).

Where I work, we use Cisco VPN and require the user to initiate a Novell login script to gain access to mapped drives. Re-reading your original post, I see that you are trying to avoid that. That may be the ultimate solution in the end, however.


~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind";
[tab][tab]- Aristotle
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[mucous]

It looks like we finally solved the issue. I created a hosts file and LMhosts file for our laptop users explicitly pointing to the servers, then selected enable NetBios over TCP/IP. The dirves still occasionally show with the Xs, but they open on the first click now. This also works over our VPN tunnels. Before, it was either one or the other.